


Wherein Arthur and Cobb are walking contradictions

by amfiguree



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Comment Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 01:04:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amfiguree/pseuds/amfiguree





	Wherein Arthur and Cobb are walking contradictions

one doesn't simply become the best forger in the business by handing out an impressive resume, factual or otherwise. actual skill is involved, and eames is exceedingly skilled at reading people. he's also been around cobb and arthur long enough now that he considers himself somewhat of an expert on them.  
  
arthur insists on going over their plan twelve times a day, and while eames can respect that kind of tenacity (like hell he can, but saito gets rather cranky when they fail to keep the peace, and eames is unwilling to wage a war against the second richest man on the planet), his mind tends to drift before too long.  
  
he starts a running list of items of little significance, things like what makes ariadne laugh (dumb blonde jokes and, surprisingly, jim carrey), and what kind of cologne saito likes to use (wood and spice, with the tiniest hint of cinnamon), how yusuf prefers his coffee (black, two sugars). somehow that leads to the ways in which cobb and arthur's partnership is a bit of an unlikely alliance, one that shouldn't necessarily work but _does_.  
  
he calls it the list of ways in which cobb and arthur differ, and its items include:

  1. their physique (which is fairly obvious; one blonde where the other is dark, one chiselled where the other is considerably less so, one broad-shouldered where the other... is not.)
  2. cobb deals with the big picture, and leaves arthur to see to the details; he says, "this needs to happen," and arthur says, "this is how."
  3. cobb takes calculated risks even when the odds are against him, and arthur will settle nothing less than _specificity_.
  4. cobb is a father, and arthur merely in-training to become one.



  
there is also, however, the list of ways in which cobb and arthur are similar, which winds up longer than the previous list, and involves:

  1. the way they both adored the late mrs cobb, like the sun rose and set by her hand.
  2. the way they indulge each other faults they cannot bear in others - arthur's smug demeanour, cobb's recklessness.
  3. the way they communicate: silent, jerky nods of the head, small hand gestures, code-words that have no meaning without context.
  4. how much they're willing to give up for each other (and eames finds this item in particular hard to fathom; he's always abided by _cut and run_ himself, a simple if inelegant rule, but cobb and arthur will do neither when it comes down to one another).
  5. the fact that they're both absolutely killer in bed, and their refusal to accept ridiculous nicknames post-intercourse.
  6. the way they fall, hard and fast and without regret.
  7. the way they both believe cobb is incapable of loving anyone but mal. (they're both wrong.)



  
"mr eames," arthur says, sharply enough that eames looks up from where he'd begun to fiddle absently with his poker chip.  
  
across the table, cobb's got his eye on him as well - _naturally_ \- and eames offers them both an insolent smile as he leans back in his seat. he nearly laughs when arthur turns to cobb to roll his eyes, and cobb's mouth twitches, almost tempted into a smile.  
  
perhaps he'll start a betting pool in the morning.


End file.
